Toy chain



NOV. 27, N BECK ET AL TOY CHAIN Filed Feb. 5, 1946 Fig 9 6 10' Fig.10Figll Fig.5 Fig.6 Fig.7 Fig.8

IN V E N TORS NICO BECK AND WERNER BORCOVEC Patented Nov. 27, 1951 TOYCHAIN Nico Beck, Zurich, and Werner Borcovec, Locarno/Muralto,Switzerland Application February 5, 1946, Serial No. 645,530 InSwitzerland March 28, 1945 1 Claim.

The present invention relates to a toy. The toy Y according to theinvention is essentially composed of pivot-jointed members the width ofwhich is a multiple of their thickness, and which are designed in such away that two adjacent members can be folded closely together.

Each member can consist of a single plate, but preferably each member iscomposed of a number of parallel bars, which are connected to each otherby means of a pivot-pin and interlock with the bars forming the adjacentmembers. The whole is formed as a closed ring, and, according to theimagination of the user, allows a great number of permutations in theposition of the various members so as to form the outlines of amultitude of figures such as ornaments, houses, animals, etc. Thisdevice can also be used as an object for demonstrations of geometricalconceptions.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device of the typeoutlined above in which the width of the members, i. e. their extensionin the direction of the longitudinal axis of the pivots or of the axisof rotation of the hinges, is greater than their thickness and in whichthe hinges have sufiicient friction to hold the formed shapes, wherebythe shapes can be stood in upright position.

Two embodiments of the object of toy according to the invention areshown schematically by way of example only in the accompanying drawing,in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of the toy and Fig. 2 amodified view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the toy and Fig. 4 amodified side View of same;

Figs. 5-8 show, at a larger scale, four alternatives of the pivotedjoint of the second embodiment of Figs. 3 and 4 in section;

Figs. 9 and 10 show, on a smaller scale, two examples of figures whichcan be built, and

Fig. 11 the toy folded together.

In the first embodiment, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, each member I isdesigned as a rectangular plate, which has a projection 3 at one end andtwo projections 2 at the other end, which are arranged in such a mannerthat the projection 3 fits exactly between the projections 2 of theadjacent member and together with the two latter forms a hinge which isheld together by a wire-pin and thereby allows any desired pivotingmotion of the members. On the inner side each member is tapered off fromthe middle portion towards each end so that, as can best be seen in Fig.2, each two adjacent members can be folded closely together. All themembers are joined together to form a closed ring, which can have fiveor .more members. The larger the number of members is, the greater thevariety of representable figures will be, and the large width of themembers allows the figures to be stood upright.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4. each member consists of anumber of parallel bars Ill, which interlock and are joined together bythe hinge-pin 4 so that they may be turned as desired. The membersconsist alternately of 3 and 4 bars respectively, but each member couldhave the same number of bars. When folding together, the bars of onemember come to lie between the bars of the adjacent member so that, ascan be seen in Fig. 4, each two adjacent members can be laid closelytogether.

With larger numbers of members it is desirable to provide a resilientfriction pressure at the joints, in order to obtain a greater stabilityof the whole. This can be realised in different manners. As shown forexample in Fig. 5, two bars of a member can have longitudinal slots l2arranged at their ends so that when the wirepin 4 is tightened the endsproduce a springlike action. As is shown in Fig. 6, a coil spring 5under tension could be fitted into a bore traversing through all thebars at the pivot, or, as is illustrated in Fig. 7, a coil spring 6under compression could be inserted into a bore passing concentricallywith the wire-pin through only one of the bars. As a furtherarrangement, as shown in Fig. 8, a metal tube 1 could be inserted ateach pivot and the ends of said metal expanded by means of acentre-punch thereby pressing the bars I0 closely together. Another waywould be to fit spring washers between each individual bar.

In Figs. 9 and 10 two examples of figures of animals are shown, whichcan be represented with the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 having thirteenmembers, and Fig. 11 shows how little space the folded toy requires, sothat, for example, it can easily be taken along on a journey bychildren.

The toy has no delicate parts nor any parts which might cause injuries.

The members or bars may be made of wood or any plastics and, whenproduced in large quantities, the whole can be manufactured cheaply.

The individual members can all be of the same length, or can also bealternately longer and shorter.

As the toy stimulates the imagination of the child better than finishedfigures, it also has an educative value.

We do not limit our invention to the structure shown and described asmodifications; within the scope of the appended claim, changes may bemade without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

A foldable toy chain adapted to be manipulated into a great number ofdifierent shapes, comprising, in combination, at least five link meanspivoted together at their ends to form a closed ring, each of said linkmeans being composed of a plurality of bars spaced apart and disposedparallel to one another and with the bars of one link means extendingbetween and overlapping the ends of the bars of the link means pivotedthereto, and pivot means consisting of aspiral spring extendingtransversely through all of said bars at each pivotal point betweenadjacent link means and fastened at'its ends to the outermost bars atsaid pivot point, said spring being so tensioned as to produce a tightbut manually adjustable fit between all of said bars at the pivotalpoint to resist pivotal action between adjacent link means one withrespect to the other, whereby each link means may be readily held in afixed position with respect to an adjacent link means in the forming ofvarious shapes and figures.

NICO BECK.

WERNER BORCOVEC.

REFERENCES CITED Thejollowing references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

